Brewin’ it local: Support the drink that built America by drinking local beer OPINIONS, 4A
It’s taco time Tacos for $1 at El Charro make this authentic Mexican grocer and restaurant a lucky find BUSINESS & TECH, 6A
Tuesday October 16, 2012
The Daily Illini
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
www.DailyIllini.com
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Vol. 142 Issue 37
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GEO hosts ‘work-in’ in public, may strike BY CHRIS SIMON CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Graduate Employees’ Organization and Champaign Federation of Teachers joined forces Monday to raise awareness about their ongoing contract negotiations. The two unions gathered at Panera Bread, 1765 W. Kirby Ave., to stage a “work-in,” where they did their outside-of-classroom work in a public setting to bring attention to what they call unpaid work. “Grading papers, writing letters of support for my students so they can get into graduate school, lesson planning, all the reading — a lot of times you do that at home,” said Stephanie Seawell, graduate student and GEO spokeswoman. “And so the public doesn’t see that work that we do.” Seawell said the public needs to know the unions care a lot about quality public education. She said the University administration needs to stop stalling on the GEO’s contract negotiations. Ingbert Schmidt, member of the bargaining team and of the GEO, said the most important contract component the two sides have agreed on so far is harassment protection, but other impor-
See GEO, Page 3A
PRITEN VORA THE DAILY ILLINI
Josh Young, a graduate employee of the University of Illinois and GEO member, grades some exams while having dinner at Panera Bread on Green Street in Champaign. Several teachers and GEO members were at Panera on Monday to raise awareness of the fact that they often work outside of school and during off hours.
Committee: University should not be limited in how to classify employees BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
PRITEN VORA THE DAILY ILLINI
Professor Mark Neubauer gives a lecture in the National Center for Supercomputer Applications on Monday as part of “Petascale Day.”
NCSA celebrates new supercomputer BY MADDIE REHAYEM STAFF WRITER
As Blue Waters, a supercomputer on campus able to calculate in the quadrillions, undergoes fi nal testing, Petascale Day was held on Monday to help the public put those number into perspective. The event was put on by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications which operates Blue Waters, and planned for Oct. 15 because 1 quadrillion equals 10 to the 15th power. The NCSA held events throughout the day at its building to educate the campus community about a petascale computer’s capabilities. Events included film screenings, lectures and demonstrations. The NCSA also tweeted throughout the day, many times defi ning a quadrillion through various comparisons
INSIDE
to help the public understand the size of the number. One main event was a tour of the National Petascale Computing Facility where members of the public could receive information about the computer. “Our tours of Blue Waters help put in perspective just how grand the supercomputer is, how large it is (and) how it feels to be around it,” said NCSA spokesperson Liz Murray. “There’s defi nitely an energy and a presence to it.” Murray said the supercomputer is still in testing phases, so researchers have not had full access to it yet. Research scientist Brian Jewett works in the University’s atmospheric science department and will use the supercomputer once it’s ready. He said Blue Waters is going to make
detailed analysis possible, and “big data,” from Blue Waters will help him better explain tornado behavior and improve tornado forecasting. “We are trying to take conditions associated with a long-lived tornado ... and we’re going to try to run it at ten times the resolution than we ever have before,” Jewett said in a lecture he gave for Petascale Day. “When you have higher resolution, you can actually capture those small scale features (of tornados).” Other Petascale Day events included fi lm screenings and 3-D scientific visualizations by NCSA’s Advanced Visualization Laboratory, which aids researchers with simulations and helps them examine data with more detail.
Maddie can be reached at rehayem2@ dailyillini.com
The Senate Executive Committee is opposing a potential statewide change that would limit the University’s ability to classify employees as civil service workers or academic professionals. The SEC approved a statement Monday against the potential loss of exemption authority. According to the statement, the State Universities Civil Service System is considering adding an amendment to its administrative code that removes exemption authority from state universities. The changes would need to be made by the SUCSS Merit Board, which is made up of 11 trustees from state colleges in Illinois, three of them from the University. The statement said the University needs to maintain the ability to exempt employees from civil service status.
“Key decisions such as which positions to exempt should not be determined by a centralized agency but by the skilled, experienced human resources professionals who work at the University,” according to the committee’s statement. Last week, the Urbana-Champaign Senate endorsed a statement from the Council of Academic Professionals against the removal of exemption authority, an endorsement the SEC said “reinforced concerns that losing flexibility in hiring academic professionals would severely inhibit the teaching, research and service functions of the university.” Nicholas Burbules, SEC member and chair of the General University Policy Committee, said the committee made its own statement on behalf of faculty members to strengthen the committee’s stance on the issue.
See SEC, Page 3A
Danville community college, UI partner in admissions program BY JANELLE O’DEA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A new program that will give Danville Area Community College students a path to the University. Though no one has applied yet, once they do, University advising staff are prepared to make visits to Danville. The program, Danville Area Community College Pathway to Illinois, was finalized Aug. 31. Stephane Potts, transfer coordinator at the college, said the program makes coming to the University easier because students can meet with University advisers before registering for classes. Advising staff will make visits to Danville twice a semester to help students choose classes with credit
transferable to the University. University admissions staff may also visit the college based on the needs of students in the program. Potts said this new program has more flexibility than existing programs, such as Parkland Pathway to Illinois at Parkland College. Unlike Parkland Pathway to Illinois, DACC Pathway to Illinois students don’t have to know right away whether they will enroll at the University. “We certainly hope they apply here as a transfer student, but if plans change, plans change,” said Kristin Smigielski, assistant direc-
See COLLEGE, Page 3A
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